This invention relates to a cautery apparatus having a main body equipped with a liquid-supply pump.
In general, endoscopes have a long, slim inserting section that is to be inserted into a body cavity without incising the body, in order to observe the interior of the cavity, or perform a diagnosis or various treatments therein. To this end, the inserting section of the endoscopes has a channel formed therein for inserting various treatment tools according to the conditions of a patient. While observing the interior of the body cavity, various treatments such as hemostasis of an ulcer are performed using the inserted treatment tools.
At present, multiple high-frequency current generators (hereinafter referred to as "cautery knives") are on the market. These generators are used to incise or coagulate tissue. In this technique, heat is generated by causing a high-frequency current to flow into body tissue. As a result, it is highly possible that the body tissue will be damaged to a certain degree, which is a limitation in the application of a treatment using a high-frequency current.
Tissue-coagulating apparatuses using a laser are also available at present. In this technique, however, it is difficult to accurately apply a laser beam to a target. Moreover, the laser apparatuses are expensive. In addition, handling the laser beam safely requires high-quality management and hence is troublesome.
Japanese Patent Application KOKOKU Publication No. 6-18578 discloses a cautery hemostatic probe using a Zener diode as a heat generator. This apparatus is easy to handle, which differs from the above-described apparatuses. Furthermore, the heat generator is not limited to the zener diode, but one that uses an electric resistor having a temperature coefficient is also proposed.
The above-described cautery apparatuses employ a liquid supply function as well. This function is used to wash away bled blood to clarify the position of the bleeding. To effect the function, a liquid-supply pump is contained in the cautery apparatuses.
In the cautery hemostatic apparatuses which use the liquid supply function effected by the liquid-supply pump, it is desirable that the interior of the pump and the liquid supply pipes should be disinfected and sterilized.
However, the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application KOKOKU Publication No. 6-18578 has a structure in which a piston pump is fixed in the apparatus body, which limits the methods of disinfecting and sterilizing the pump, and also requires a lot of time and effort to execute the disinfection or sterilization.